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Passing Gas (Ten Speed Press) by Gary Gladstone Reviewed by James Cotter Article rating: 9.71

It would be cruel to give your kid a funny name.  The Gwenieveres and Moonbeams of the world are condemned to a lifetime of snickers and ridicule.  Saddle an entire town with a funny name - Zig Zag, Goofy Ridge, or Suckerville - and you're just plain sadistic.  But ask anyone in Ding Dong, Texas or Panic, Pennsylvania, and you're likely to find a strange sense of pride in their founder's imagination.  There's dozens of Springfields and Middletowns in America, but there's only one Tightwad, Missouri. 

Photographer Gary Gladstone traveled the country (over 38,000 miles during 9 trips in 5 years through 40 states) to chronicle towns with peculiar names for his book Passing Gas: And Other Towns Along The American Highway, published by Ten Speed Press.  The remarkable aspect of the collection isn't the odd names (although some are laugh out loud bizarre - Toad Suck, Arkansas!).  Rather, it is story of the people who inhabit these towns that provide the reader with insight into the soul of a place like Stinking Point, Virginia or Bitter End Tennessee. 

The rough Harley Davidson aficionado of Nice, California or the steel jawed trooper of Delightful, Ohio provide humorous visual juxtapositions.  But more often than not, the subjects are ordinary people, serendipitously found on the street or in a restaurant and willing to pose for Gladstone's camera. 

These subjects constitute the heart of the collection - ministers, farmers, mechanics, teachers.  Gladstone expertly captures a glimpse of their personality and includes brief narrative of the circumstances surrounding the image.

The photographs in the book are immediate and candid.  Gladstone was wise to allow his subjects to be themselves, all tousled hair and big toothy grins.  The impromptu photo shoots add to the breezy charm of the book.  There's often a discussion of a town's name and questionable history is passed around with little regard for accuracy. 

Invariably, Gladstone finds an old timer in town who knows the true origins of the municipal moniker.  Hell, Michigan was so named as a result of a raucous argument at a town meeting.  Gas, Kansas derives its name from a long closed natural gas plant on the outskirts of town.  And of course, Boring, Oregon is, well, boring. 

Each town, each portrait, reveals a layer of small town America that pundits and prognosticators have long bemoaned as lost and forgotten.  Perhaps unconsciously, what Gladstone proves in this modest volume is that small town America is alive and well.  Even in a place called Knockemstiff, Ohio, you can find a couple of friendly faces willing to talk to a stranger about their corner of the country.

All photos reprinted with permission from Passing Gas: And Other Towns Along the American Highway. Copyright © 2003 by Gary Gladstone, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA.

>>Click here to visit the Official website for Passing Gas...

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	I know about Sweetlips, TN because I live near it in Enville, in Chester County, Tennessee. Sweetlips people are some of the best people in Tennessee. Love Sweetlips community and the one store Sweetlips grocery. Shout out to my friend the Newsoms, owners of Sweetlips Grocery. Phillip Ray Holmes Posted by: Phillip Ray Holmes Jun 28, 2006 @ 7:16 PM EST
	Having grown up not far from Possum Grape, Arkansas and having been through Toadsuck a time or two, I found this very amusing. I plan to look into purchasing the book, thanks for the preview. Posted by: Garnet Brooks Nov 14, 2006 @ 6:52 PM EST
	I forgot to mention in my other post I also know about Sweetlips, Tn. . I have some great friends living there. Cindy Springer and her husband Dan Piechocki own and operate the Sweatlips Greenhouse just down the road from the Sweetlips Grocery. If you need to find some of the BEST tomato plants, with the widest variety for counties around , the Sweetlips Greenhouse is the place to go. I just want everyone to know how great these little communites are and how great the folks living in them are as well. Posted by: Garnet Brooks Nov 14, 2006 @ 7:5 PM EST

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